Eye health - The SOLUTION!!! - Experienced keepers please share your WISDOM!!!

[makkatfloof]

I purchased a 15 month old Ambilobe Panther Chameleon from CB Reptile and received it on Tuesday April 3, 2018 . Zero issues with it until May 30. It was the eye issue described in my earlier post, but again, I can't point fingers and honestly don't know why he has the issue. Throwing money at the problem is resolving it in addition to my extensive research. I firmly believe people are utilizing the wrong type of vitamin A for these panther chameleons. Time will tell. I plan to purchase another one, continue healing this one, but in the end, trial and error is the path to success. Here's some photos before the eye issue.

I understand not pointing fingers, especially since he didn’t have the infection as soon as you got him.
I think it’s pretty ironic though that multiple people, not just you and I though, have come forward complaining about this eye infection to CB Reptile.
They do nothing but send you a coupon.
But you’re right. It def has to do with vitamin a issues. At least many eye problems are.

 

[GPLVPC]

I will say, 20 years ago when I had these creatures, I had zero issues with eyes. The issue I had was with them getting compacted due to exoskeleton build up from super worms. See, back in those days, we fed crickets and meal worms. After about a year with one, I had issue with compacting and took it to the vet and within about a week, it was defecating as one would expect. I'm also in the reef aquarium hobby. Again, coming back into the hobby after being out of it for more than two decades, I see that hobby evolving extensively, but still room for improvement. Cannot same the same for reptiles. Still the same old garbage, but some evolution in the enclosure seen and misting. You have to be careful with a lot of vine related products out there. Most products rub off into your hand and therefore rub off onto the chameleons and can get into their eyes. Husbandry is a big component with these chameleons and if you think you can setup a proper longterm environment for a $100, please think again. The other issue I have seen is with the general statements around care of chameleons in general that carry over to panther chameleons. Guess what? Those instructions are usually wrong, starting with vitamins, lighting, irrigation, etc. So, just be careful and by all means, ask questions. Going back to a reptile supplier for a resolution to a health problem with a reptile is not the proper course of action. In closing, if you can't set aside $500-1K for vet emergencies, I DO NOT recommend anyone getting into housing Panther Chameleons. Nothing upsets me more than to read that someone doesn't have $100 to take one to a vet. If that's the case, maybe you should stick to housing anoles, if you want reptiles. Again, general statement, not naming anyone, but you can read through all of this thread and see several of those comments.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I purchased a 15 month old Ambilobe Panther Chameleon from CB Reptile and received it on Tuesday April 3, 2018 . Zero issues with it until May 30. It was the eye issue described in my earlier post, but again, I can't point fingers and honestly don't know why he has the issue. Throwing money at the problem is resolving it in addition to my extensive research. I firmly believe people are utilizing the wrong type of vitamin A for these panther chameleons. Time will tell. I plan to purchase another one, continue healing this one, but in the end, trial and error is the path to success. Here's some photos before the eye issue.

Beautiful chameleon! By the way, what do you mean by you are sure people are using the wrong vitamin A for chameleons? You don't mean that you believe that Retinyl Palmitate is the wrong vitamin A do you? According to all research and years of experience it is exactly what chameleons need to have optimal health!

 

[GPLVPC]

Beautiful chameleon! By the way, what do you mean by you are sure people are using the wrong vitamin A for chameleons? You don't mean that you believe that Retinyl Palmitate is the wrong vitamin A do you? According to all research and years of experience it is exactly what chameleons need to have optimal health!

Retinyl Palmitate is correct. So many newbies think dusted crickets from the LRS is sufficient when in reality, they are dusting them with the wrong type of vitamin A as we all know.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Totally agree!

 

[GPLVPC]

Totally agree!

Here’s a photo I just took of his right eye. The eye would have been lost if it wasn’t for my persistence and demands at the vet. It was matted shut, lost most depth, etc. I’m injecting him with an antibiotic every three days as well as applying topical drops in it daily. He can see just fine and will hopefully be good to go soon. Had I not taken him to the vet, spent $260, I’m 100% convinced he would have lost the eye. Vet is now in agreement with me regarding treatment of future chameleons and knows the proper path for treatment.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Wild!

 

[dshuld]

Just gonna jump in super quick and throw in something.
So my boy got sent to me with a major eye infection.
Many issues that I have even heard other complaints about are just poor breeders/previous owners.
Not at all trying to bash these people, but I will call out CB Reptile. That’s where I got my boy. They claim they have a biologist onsite that clears each chameleon, yet offer no links to this “biologist” or even leave a name. And when they send you the chameleon, they give you no info it. After my boy started his treatment, i obviously sent in a complaint. They still offered no verification to their “biologist” but claimed their “biologist” said there’s no way the chameleon got an infection from any others there (he was a baby and still housed with his hatch mates).
He had a bacterial infection that my vet said he could have only got passed to him somehow.
This place also offers no pictures of their actual breeding facility, covers up all negative reviews, and has horrible communication methods.

I do own up to the fact that I probably should have went to a specialized breeder and spent more time looking into this breeder. But, my point is, ive heard WAY too many questionable things about captive breeders recently. As more and more captive breeders come up, the more sketch they get.
So, I will say that maybe checking out where you’re gettin your chams from a lot more clearer (since I keep hearing about many of the eye problems being with chams that people JUST got) would be a huge help. Making sure you’re getting a healthy chameleon from an experienced and knowledgeable breeder is becoming more and more of a necessity.

I would suggest posting this to the BOI (Board Of Inquiry over on faunaclassifieds.com) if you haven't already. Not saying this was meant as a review but, as a review is against this sites rules unfortunately. Now then, since I'm done playing site police , here is something I will say. Cb reptile is like backwater, LLL and I'm sure many other sites I'm either forgetting or unfamiliar with, and is a wholesaler/ flipper. They buy entire clutches at discounted prices and flip them. Cb buys clutches under the id StarTortoiseWorld from what I've seen and have publicly stated they are the owner of Cb. I've not dealt with any of the three other then an email sent to LLL on a Nosy Be female. They couldn't give any lineage info so I didn't move forward beyond that email. I don't know how much faith I'd put into the "biologist" either. I think I saw it mentioned one time some where that the "biologist" was a business partner but I don't recall ever seeing a name for said partner. That being said, I don't know all of them but there are flippers masquerading as breeders and flippers that are now working on legitimately breeding their own stock too. Best advise I can give going forward on that is, be diligent in doing your home work on who ever you're going through. Though we are working together on various things and separately at the same time, I still seek @Matt Vanilla Gorilla 's guidance on chams I'm looking to buy to add to my projects. He can attest to I usually do my best to look into things but even I missed something on some I was looking at that he caught for me thank goodness. I definitely had a "mentor to the rescue moment" recently lol.

 

[makkatfloof]

I would suggest posting this to the BOI (Board Of Inquiry over on faunaclassifieds.com) if you haven't already. Not saying this was meant as a review but, as a review is against this sites rules unfortunately. Now then, since I'm done playing site police , here is something I will say. Cb reptile is like backwater, LLL and I'm sure many other sites I'm either forgetting or unfamiliar with, and is a wholesaler/ flipper. They buy entire clutches at discounted prices and flip them. Cb buys clutches under the id StarTortoiseWorld from what I've seen and have publicly stated they are the owner of Cb. I've not dealt with any of the three other then an email sent to LLL on a Nosy Be female. They couldn't give any lineage info so I didn't move forward beyond that email. I don't know how much faith I'd put into the "biologist" either. I think I saw it mentioned one time some where that the "biologist" was a business partner but I don't recall ever seeing a name for said partner. That being said, I don't know all of them but there are flippers masquerading as breeders and flippers that are now working on legitimately breeding their own stock too. Best advise I can give going forward on that is, be diligent in doing your home work on who ever you're going through. Though we are working together on various things and separately at the same time, I still seek @Matt Vanilla Gorilla 's guidance on chams I'm looking to buy to add to my projects. He can attest to I usually do my best to look into things but even I missed something on some I was looking at that he caught for me thank goodness. I definitely had a "mentor to the rescue moment" recently lol.

Oh, I never meant it to be a review. Sorry!! I didn’t even know that was a rule anyways. But, I will definitely say something to BOI. Thanks for suggesting that!!!
And thank you for all this info! Yeah, I even asked for their biologists name and credentials and they completely ignored the request.
Like I said, I flat out admit that I should’ve done better research on them before picking out my boy and will NEVER go to any seller like that again.

 

[dshuld]

Oh, I never meant it to be a review. Sorry!! I didn’t even know that was a rule anyways. But, I will definitely say something to BOI. Thanks for suggesting that!!!
And thank you for all this info! Yeah, I even asked for their biologists name and credentials and they completely ignored the request.
Like I said, I flat out admit that I should’ve done better research on them before picking out my boy and will NEVER go to any seller like that again.

It's cool with me lol. Believe me, I wish were able to do them here when it comes to cham related issues. Would save having to pm my experiences in different situations . The suggestion was more in case the comment disappears from here kind of thing.

 

[makkatfloof]

It's cool with me lol. Believe me, I wish were able to do them here when it comes to cham related issues. Would save having to pm my experiences in different situations . The suggestion was more in case the comment disappears from here kind of thing.

I agree!!
Well, nonetheless, I still just went and made a post about it there. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[dshuld]

I agree!!
Well, nonetheless, I still just went and made a post about it there. Thanks for the suggestion!

Cool, if you still have them, add any supporting emails/ fb messages, vet bills and such because they will be asked for I'm sure.

 

[MammawBee]

Ok, so, we have soooo many experienced chameleon keepers here on this forum, and yet, I see people posting nearly every day with the thread title reading something like this: "please help, chameleon with eye problem", or "chameleon not opening eyes, not eating, please help", etc. ......…!

Thank you for opening the subject. This is something I have been dealing with in my veiled chameleon. She (?) is around a year old and lately she has been keeping her eyes closed, even while she is walking around. She has fallen in her cage (luckily it isn't far) because she cannot or will not open her eyes. Plus, since she will not open her eyes, she will not eat, I tried force feeding her just to get it back out.
I will be getting some liquid vit. A tomorrow. Could I give her anything that has concentrated energy (like they have for dogs and cats)?
Thank you for all your help.
MammawBee & Tuff-Stuff (the chameleon)

 

[Curlytails]

Ok, so, we have soooo many experienced chameleon keepers here on this forum, and yet, I see people posting nearly every day with the thread title reading something like this: "please help, chameleon with eye problem", or "chameleon not opening eyes, not eating, please help", etc. .........!

The answers are always quite the same: proper lighting, temperatures, humidity and hydration, a good supliment schedule and high quality propper gutloaded feeders. But what does this all mean! People need specifics! Without it, the problem will prevail!

I am calling all experienced keepers and breeders to join me and work together at compiling all the information possible to help all our forum members prevent this devastating, high mortality rate problem from killing so many of our precious pets! There must be people on here who have kept chameleons for many years and hardly ever have chameleons with eye probems. Or people who always reverse eye conditions in their chameleons without them ending up dead!

So, please, if you do not have knowledge, experience and wisdom to share just read and learn, please do not clutter this thread up with arguments and junk! Let's keep this thread serious and on track! On the other hand if you know any vital, eye/life saving secrets, please speak up and let's revolutionize the quality of life of our incredible chameleon children!

Experienced Gurus let me hear your wisdom!

Please?

not very experienced with chams but beaphar eye and skin ointment works well for geckos and snakes. seen it on videos and my relative used it for his elderly female leopard gecko who had shed pieces somehow stuck in her eye. seems to lessen the irritaton. i dont know if it is available on the other side of the pond though...

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Thank you so much for the compliment! It is our honor to help where we can! I have just through the years notice that eye health is a big problem with chameleons in captivity! I have also noticed that some people have the problem and others not! Usually by the time a chameleon starts walking around with their eyes closed it gets very hard to bring them back to normal health! Prevention is really the key here! Unfortunately people usually do not start researching eye health until their chameleon already have a problem! Just go to the human drug store and get gel caps of retinyl palmitate. Each capsule is a bit more than a single dose per chameleon. Just follow the directions posted earlier in the thread. Not just the directions for the Vitamin A but all other directions. Best of luck! Feel free to PM me any time you need help!

 

[Jennyontheblock]

I use Vitamin A liquid gels that you can find in the vitamin isle of drugstores. I either inject it into a feeder or put a drop on the feeder and then feed it to my Cham.

How often do you do this?

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Please read the thread it is loaded with good information. The dosing is one drop on the back of one bug (of appropriate size for the chameleon) once a month!

 

[Jennyontheblock]

Got it! This should be included in the care sheets and accepted as common knowledge. So many dont take their pets to vet and few vets have this kind of experience. Sounds like a common problem.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Maybe one day! Lol. I do my best to educate everybody who buys a chameleon from me!

 

[Jennyontheblock]

Maybe one day! Lol. I do my best to educate everybody who buys a chameleon from me!

My cham just started rubbing eye and closed for a little bit today. I did drop on cricket. Should I do anythi g else? My misting goes off for almost an hour per day. Vet said eye was healthy and free of debris, fecal good. I did that whole form thing the first time it happened.